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Red Ribbon Week at Wheeling High School got off to an historic
start Monday as an international pact to reduce the flow
of drugs in the United States was signed and a White House
representative asked students to help fight against drub
abuse.
Red Ribbon Week is celebrated every year at the high school
and is a national program. Wheeling High School Principal
Dorothy Sievert said the week's activities include students
making pledges to live a drug-free life.
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-10th, appeared at the school with
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy. Joining them was Belgian Ambassador Frans van Daele
and Dutch Ambassador Boudewijn Van Eenennaam. Kirk, Daele
and Van Eenennaam signed a "road map" outlining
the commitments of all three countries to reduce the trafficking
of synthetic, or club, drugs. The symbolic signing was done
as a show of good faith between the three countries.
Kirk said about 90 percent of all club drugs, like Ecstasy,
coming into the United States is transported through Belgium
and the Netherlands.
"One of the fastest growing dangers is club drugs,"
Kirk said. "This is an instance where foreign policy
can be used to help defend Americans here at home."
Van Eenennaam and Daele agreed the best way to help stop
the trafficking of these drugs is by different nations working
together.
"We want to work on all points of the conveyor belt
- from production to consumption," Daele said. "This
can only be achieved through multinational cooperation."
Daele explained Belgium is particularly attractive to drug
traffickers because of its open borders with neighboring
countries and its variety of transportation facilities,
especially through the city of Antwerp, which is the fifth-largest
port in the world.
Both ambassadors said they were pleased and eager to work
with the United States to reduce the flow of club drug.
According to the road map signed, both countries pledged
to put more money and resources into stopping the shipment
of club drugs and strengthen laws against their transportation
and production. The United States has pledged to provide
training and intelligence to both countries.
"Many of you might think I am not feeling happy to
be here; that I might be one the defensive," Van Eenennaam
said, referring to the amount of drugs shipped through his
country. "That is not the case. I am using this opportunity
to take the offensive. It si the only way to deal with this
problem."
Walters, who is better know as the White House drug czar,
said Ecstasy use is declining as more people become aware
of its effects and dangers. He said use among high school
seniors nationwide is down 20 percent from last year. He
also said Chicago emergency room cases of Ecstasy overdoses
have dropped from 215 in 2000 to 87 in 2002.
Walters said the popularity of club drugs rose steadily
through the late 1990s, and the message not to use them
needs to be reiterated to combat the "lies" of
club-drug use.
"Those lies are that it's safe, it's fun, everybody
does it and it won't hurt you," he said. "With
those attitudes, we are only going ot have more casualties."
Walters also asked for the help of Wheeling High School's
student body during an assembly held the same mornig. He
said students have the power to help their peers stay away
from drugs if they have the courage to do it.
"Drug addiction is a disease, and denial is part of
that disease," he said. "Those who have the disease
will resist (help). It takes courage to tell them what they're
doing is wrong. It doesn't take courage to follow along."
Kate Patton of Rolling Meadows also spoke at the assembly.
Her 23-year-old daughter, Kelly, died of an Ecstasy overdose
in November 1999. Patton said she had never heard of Ecstasy
when police officers knocked on her door to tell her Kelly
was dead.
"I'm here to put a face to the devastation,"
Patton said. "Ecstasy doesn't care. It has no discrimination.
It has no boundaries as to who uses it. You have choices,
and I'm asking you to make the right choices."
Copyright© 2003, Digital
Chicago Inc.
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